Chalk Talks: Driving Demand with Interactive Video

Online and interactive video is become an increasingly important part of today’s digital marketing, lead generation, and demand gen programs, partly because it can help you reach a broader audience, but more importantly because it can help you boost conversion rates across the myriad of programs that you’re already running today. Not only is video a great way to boost audience engagement, but by adding interacting elements to your existing video content, you can generate more new leads, accelerate the buyer’s journey, and boost conversation rates across your email marketing, content marketing, and other demand gen programs.

My name is Tyler Lessard, and in this Chalk Talk, we’ll explore how you can use interactive video capabilities to generate more leads, create more pipeline, and produce more sales-ready opportunities for your sales team.

3 Types of Interactive Video

Now the first thing to understand with interactive video is that it doesn’t mean you have to go out and create all new videos that are meant to be interactive. With platforms like Vidyard, you can easily add interactive capabilities to existing video content to turn those videos into new lead gen machines. Here are the three different types of interactive capabilities that you can add to existing videos or to new videos you create. The first are pre-roll gates. A pre-roll gate is an interactive event that pops up at the beginning of a video and will prompt the user to enter some form of information, their email address, name, or so on, before they’re allowed to continue watching that video content. Pre-roll gates are a great way to generate new leads with high value video content. The second are mid-roll annotations. A mid-roll annotation is something that pops up as an overlay within the video during playback, so it could be a small sign up form that pops up at the bottom of the video during a certain portion. It could be an indication to click on something for related content or a related customer story. Lots of different ways in which you can use interactive annotations and popups during video playback to drive the next step in the buyer’s journey. And finally, perhaps most important, are the post-roll calls to action. A post-roll CTA is adding an interactive event to the end of your video so once that audience member consumes the whole content, you can present them with very specific actions to take as their next step. It could be as simple as a button to drive them to a related page, or it could be an interactive form to get them to register for a demo or download some kind of related asset.

Using Interactive Events to Wow

So let’s talk about how to use these different types of interactive events within the existing types of videos that you may already be investing in today as a demand gen team to get more value and start generating more leads very, very quickly. So over here we’ve got a list of some of the different types of videos you may already be investing in as a marketing organization and using them across your website, your blog, your webinar channels, your email marketing, as well as with your sales team for one-to-one video messaging. So we’re gonna start at the top here and talk about the different types of interactive events and which ones you’ll want to consider depending on the type of video and its stage within the buyer’s journey. So let’s start at the top of the buyer’s journey with content that many of you likely have on your website today which are explainer and overview videos. These are the videos that are introducing the pain, the potential gain, and what you offer at a high level to your audience. You never wanna pre-gate these assets. You want everybody to lean in and consume the content, but think about how during playback you could add mid-roll annotations to link out to related content so that individual if they’re ready to take the next step, you offer them a jumping off point at a few different spots. For example, as you’re talking about a specific solution capability, you could have an interactive event to jump off to download a related guide or to read or interact with a customer story that relates back to that solution. The second thing you’ll want to do is add a post-roll call to action. So at the end of watching that video, what do you want that individual to do? It may be to request a demo, it may be to visit a customer solution, it may be to continue on down the page and interact with more content, but lots of different ways in which you can add an interactive event to make sure you drive the next step, whether they’re consuming that video on your website, a third party channel, or on your social media channels. The next type of video are customer testimonials. Customer stories are a great way to get your audience emotionally connected to your brand, to really lean into a powerful story, but how do you activate that right away? Well, interactive events is a perfect thing to do. So again you don’t want to pre-roll gate these videos, but mid-roll annotations can again be a great way to offer somebody a jumping off point as they’re listening to the story to learn more about something related to that customer story. Perhaps a customer is talking about a specific feature that they’ve used. You could add an interactive annotation that pops up for a few seconds to offer that individual an opportunity to jump out and watch a demo of that specific product feature. At the end of that video, again, what do you want the audience member to do after consuming that video? Perhaps download a related ebook, request a demo, and so on. Now, what’s great about adding the CTAs right to the videos is, again, whether they’re consuming it on your website, a third party site, or it’s a video sent directly from your sales team, those interactive events follow that video and you’ve always got a conversion opportunity.

Getting Product Demos in Front of the Right Eyes

Next is product demos. Product demo videos are generally the next layer down from your explainers, and these offer more information specific to your solution set out to your audience. Now, some people may wish to keep these open, let anybody consume them. Others may consider adding pre-roll gates to these videos as a way to collect information from somebody and generate a new lead before you open the kimono and let them see your product in action. We’re seeing more and more businesses offer a “watch a product demo” CTA on their site as a higher conversion point than requesting a full demo or requesting a full trial. This can be a great way to get somebody’s information, to get them to lean in, let them consume 8 to 10 minutes worth of product demo content, and, of course, with a tool like Vidyard, you can track that as well, and not only do you generate the new lead, but you know exactly what they’re consuming and you can hand that off to your sales team. During a product demo, you’re typically not gonna add interactive CTAs during the middle because you want somebody to progress through the content, but at the end of the video, of course, this is a great opportunity to add a post-roll CTA to make sure you’re sending them on that next step, whether it be to watch the next video in the series or again, perhaps watch a customer story of somebody who used that product or that feature to generate success within their own business. The next one is video blogs. So take a video like this one, a Chalk Talk. This is something we would create and put out on our blog as great educational content, but there are lots of opportunities here during playback to have interactive annotations that link out to related content. So even if somebody doesn’t make it to the end of the video, partway through we’re offering them different things they can go and do as a way to continue the buyer’s journey. It may be a link out to a related product video to highlight a feature that we’ve spoken about, or again, maybe to go and watch a customer story of somebody who’s done this successfully to see how, again, somebody in the real world’s doing it. Again, you’re gonna want to also have a post-roll call to action to drive that viewer to the next step if they did get to the end of that video, and this is a great way to convert more of your blog visitors into actual leads or to create progression points for them as part of your inbound strategy.

Using Webinars Like Never Before

Now, next is webinars. Many of you are likely doing webinars today, and you’re already gating the live webinar, but think about how you could take the recorded webinar, upload it onto your own website, control it in your own brand experience, but use things like pre-roll email gates as a way to generate new leads from that existing content. As somebody’s watching that webinar, offer them jump-off points. Not that many people are gonna stay tuned for the full 30, 45 minutes, whatever it might be, but if you have interactive events throughout, you offer them an opportunity to take a conversion point, to download a related guide or to visit a page related to something they’re speaking about during the webinar. And of course, if somebody makes it all the way to the end, reward them with an interactive event. It may be, again, a form to request a demo or some kind of action to take at the end of that webinar. These are great ways to get more value from the webinars you’re already investing in today. Now, something else we see more and more people doing is creating short videos as a way to promote the full webinar. So for example, if I do a 30 minute webinar with a couple of guest speakers, I might do a 30 to 45 second little highlight reel where you just hear some of the quotes from it, and at the end of that, I’m gonna have a post-roll CTA that right there says watch the full webinar. That’s gonna drive me to this video where I’ve now got a pre-roll gate that I can get them to enter their information and become a net new lead.

Direct Communications to Your Audience

Now the last two here are related to more direct communications to your known audience. So email marketing, many of you are likely using email nurturers to keep your existing leads warm or to look for, again, opportunities for conversion points within your existing funnel. Video within an email nurture can be a great way to boost response rates, including customer videos, promotional videos or other types of explainers, but again, think about how you can add interactive events to make sure if somebody clicks on that video in the email, they’re taken off and they watch that video that they have an immediate conversion point that you can get them into a sales cycle. So with videos that are being included in your email marketing, I always recommend having clear post-roll CTAs that can help you drive the next step, whether it’s to request a demo, to download a related ebook or an asset, or to visit another page on your site to consume some more information. And finally, more and more sales teams are using one-to-one video messaging as a way to generate new leads themselves or to convert the leads that you’re sending over to them. With these personal video messages, you can also add interactive events to the end of those videos to do things like book a meeting. So if somebody watches their 30-second personal video, at the end it can prompt them to book a meeting right then and there. We’re seeing that be really successful with sales teams as a way to, again, create higher conversions from their outbound prospecting and get more value out of those videos they’re creating and sending themselves. Now as you start to do more of this, you’ll want to think about, I’ve got a lot of great conversion points here now, from a lot of existing videos that I already have. How could I now repackage or repurpose these videos as evergreen content to help me generate new leads all year round, right? So think about how you could repackage your webinars into a resource hub, how you could package product demos into gated assets, and so on. Lots of different ways you can now incorporate these videos into your nurture programs, into your digital strategy, because you’ve got clear ways to help make sure that those people who view the videos are gonna convert into a lead or be accelerated through the buyer’s journey.

Be Interactive with Your Content Plan

And finally, as you’re creating new video content, think about interactive as a part of how you create your content, so plan for it from the beginning. What’s the action you’re gonna want somebody to take? Is there a point in the video where you want to prompt them with a choose-your-own-adventure style set of annotations? So something to think about, but I think for now the main starting point for most marketers is to incorporate interactive events into their existing videos to help them generate more leads, accelerate their existing buyer’s journey, and boost conversion rates, and ultimately see material new results within four to six weeks of adding these interactive capabilities to their existing programs.

My name is Tyler Lessard, and this had been a Vidyard Chalk Talk.

The post Chalk Talks: Driving Demand with Interactive Video appeared first on Vidyard.

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The Secret to Selling with Body Language

Back on the ancestral Serengeti (okay, really, before the early 2000s) salespeople had to hunt and gather for their sales.

That is, they had to do it in-person. They’d knock on doors, interrupt strangers’ meals, trade business cards, and make instant, likable impressions or go hungry for the day. This savage jungle forced them to perfect winning smiles, confident body posture, and assertive stares. They knew how to sell through body language.

The exact percentage of communication that body posture accounts for is up for debate. What isn’t up for debate is that it’s incredibly important for displaying trust. Sales are won or lost at a glance and when an entire generation of inside sellers who have never known what it’s like to sell eye-to-eye are now using video, they are terrified.

Or at least, they look terrified, based on their body language. Or are they bored? Or nervous? Actually, we can’t really tell.

If you could use some help closing deals, it’s time to start controlling what you say with your body.

Sellers, here are the 3 big nonverbal cues to correct when selling with video:

1. Open your defensive, closed body posture

When we feel threatened or uncomfortable, we clench up. According to Joe Navarro, a 25 year veteran of the FBI writing in Psychology Today, “Arm crossing helps us to deal with anxiousness or psychological distress.”

Throughout his career, Navarro has picked up on a pattern: people under duress cover their vital areas—such as their chest or their neck—as if they’re going to be physically attacked. This is bad for salespeople because the vast majority of people, including their prospects, can read these signs, if only subconsciously. And, they’re contagious.

Prospects will automatically mirror a salesperson’s discomfort. Closed body posture gives them the signal that there’s something to worry about and they’ll fell ill at ease and much more resistant to persuasion. The fix, luckily, is quite simple.

To correct your defensive body posture:

• Sit up straight. Align your spine and roll your shoulders back.
• Lift your chin.
• Breathe deeply.
• Uncross your arms. Lay them on your legs with your hands face-up like you’re meditating. (This is the ultimate confident act: You’re exposing your vulnerable underarms.)

Opening your posture will also alter your mental state. According to Fast Company, changing your posture, say, from a hunch to a power pose, can decrease your cortisol (stress) levels. When you act calm, you look calm, and you prompt your prospects to relax as well.

2. Stop the evasive eye actions

Eye contact is directly correlated to confidence and a host of other positive qualities. According to Carol Kinsey Goman, author of The Nonverbal Advantage, people will judge “the closeness of your relationships by the amount of eye contact you display: the greater the eye contact, the closer the relationship.” And according to AJ Harbinger, author of The Art of Charm, eye contact can make your words more memorable, can increase attraction, and is often interpreted as a sign of trustworthiness. And yet in video after video, salespeople look away.

“To build rapport, maintain eye contact for 70 to 80 percent of the time.” – Yesware

To stop what appears to be “evasive” eye actions, train yourself to look at the screen. Nevermind that you aren’t actually looking into someone’s eyes. To viewers, the effect is as real as if you were sitting there in person.

To make better eye contact:

• Memorize your script so you aren’t looking at a prompt.
• Put a sticky note under your camera that says, “look here!”

3. Stop it with the fake smiles  

Almost everyone can spot fake smiles. That’s because, according to Paul Ekman, Ph.D., and author of Telling Lies, of the 26 or so muscles involved in the smile, only some can be controlled voluntarily. When we smile genuinely, the whole flight of muscles is activated, resulting in a full-face smile. When we’re faking a smile, it’s only those muscles directly under our control that are activated as pictured below.

Can you spot the difference? For most people, you can see it in the eyes and in the cheeks. For those who fake smile to prospects via video, you’re sending the message that you aren’t being honest. And if that’s the case, what else aren’t you being honest about?

Luckily, the answer to the fake smile is also simple: start smiling for real.

How to give a genuine smile on-command:

• Look at something that makes you laugh right before your video.
• Watch yourself trying on different smiles in the mirror.
• Visualize things that really make you smile.

Practice smiling with other salespeople. Often, just the knowledge that you’re giving off a phony smile leads to dramatic improvements.

The next time you record a sales video, ask yourself: what am I communicating with my body language? If you can open your posture, keep eye contact, and give off a more radiant, genuine smile, then you’re well on your way to building trust with your prospects. Trust matters—as Ekman put it in Telling Lies, “No important relationship survives if trust is totally lost.” And neither do deals.

The post The Secret to Selling with Body Language appeared first on Vidyard.

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How to Salvage 2017 and Plan for 2018

Are you satisfied with what you’ve accomplished so far in 2017?

Did you create goals for this year only to fall short?

In this episode, we talk about how to salvage 2017 and plan for 2018.

Intro

Listen to Episode

The post How to Salvage 2017 and Plan for 2018 appeared first on Become A Blogger by Noemi M.

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Content Pros: How Concord is Turning Heads with Content

Teaming up with the team at Convince & Convert, Vidyard’s VP of Marketing Tyler Lessard hosts the Content Pros Podcast. For this week’s episode, Tyler is joined by Travis Bickham, VP of Marketing at Concord, to discuss how a focus on quality and providing the Netflix experience is turning heads in a crowded marketplace. Check out the full podcast:

Here are a few of our favorite moments:

Ho are you approaching your content strategy and what are some of the tools that you’re trying to put in place to help yourselves stand out and compete in this market where content can’t just be good, it has to be great?

There are a few things we’re doing there. I think one is speaking to the organizational side of it. How do you organize your team and how do you organize the structure of your content? I’m a pretty firm believer in what I would call the content pyramid, which I think keeps you honest in your content creation and also keeps your content very clear and focused. The way we do that is we’re actually rolling out one new piece of highly curated, intensely focused content every month. Think something along the lines of the original Marketo essential guides, but specific to your industry and really answering a question that you might pay a consultant to come in and answer for you. We see so many of our customers going through similar things, and I’m sure other companies do too, that we have a unique perspective that a company on the inside that’s really looking in their silo might not. We want to give that knowledge to all of our prospects and all of our customers and really go ahead and hand them something of value right out the gates. We create that core piece of content every month. It could be something like a 30-page e-book, could be a really well thought out interview. It could even be a podcast. Then from that core piece of content, we’re actually going to cascade derivative content, so every blog post, every whiteboard Wednesday, all of our smaller pieces are going to follow up on that main theme for the month. Then from there, we have microcontent, so think social, an email from a salesperson, anything like that. It’s all going to go back to that main theme, much the way you would watch something like 60 minutes and it would cover one thing and then everything would cascade from there. That’s how we’re organizing our content. We have people that are really focused on demand generation and they’re in charge of actually executing that theme throughout the month. Is the email going to be about this? What are we saying online? What’s going to go on the blog? Then we have people that are purely focused on content. Their job isn’t to think about leads. It’s not to think about the sales journey. It’s about producing something incredibly, incredibly compelling and so we want to actually lead people down that journey. The second part of it is we want to give people the Netflix experience. This is something that we do primarily through our video strategy, but a lot of it involves not gating content that shouldn’t be gated, producing things that people actually want to watch or actually want to interact with and really investing the time in thinking through what you’re going to say and what value it’s going to give to the end customer. If someone comes into our website and watches a video, we want them to immediately click play next and we want them to actually walk themselves down that journey that traditional marketing was in charge of via emails, banner ads, what have you. People are happy to consume your content if it’s good enough.

How do you think about applying ideas, not just to an inbound strategy, but to an outbound strategy? I know you’ve talked a lot in your past about account-based marketing and how you can leverage great content and great tactics to go out and proactively engage key accounts.

Yeah, definitely. I think that the world has never been busier, especially when we think about anything digital. To stand out is actually incredibly difficult. Part of the way you can do that and you can actually improve the attention span of your prospects is through creating fantastic content. When we’re thinking about account-based marketing, aside from understanding who we want to talk to and building target lists and all of that really pre-marketing stuff, we’re intensely focused on creating content that people actually want to read and is going to give them value immediately. If we’re not sending them something that’s polished and professional right off the bat, we’ve already lost the battle. If we’re going to spend the time to create this entire journey, create the messaging for someone, the content has to be flawless. One thing we do is we’ll really seek to understand our prospect’s business. That’s kind of easy to do because we’ll actually look at what industries and what competitors and what groups of companies are good for us until we understand really what the problems of that industry are. Then we’ll dive into that specific company, see how they’re interacting with the macro themes and we’ll create the content from there. That generally involves understanding who to talk to. Obviously, the higher in the organization you can go, the better. If you’re selling what we’re selling, it’s really an organization-wide approach, so that’s pretty easy. Then we’ll create something along the lines of a personalized e-book, obviously, personalized video has long been a favorite of mine. Thank you, Tyler, for turning me onto that.

We’ll go ahead and we’ll send that out across a variety of outbound channels, email, direct mail, digital, even retargeting and also dynamic content on our website. The point is to let our prospects understand that we know what they’re going through and we want to learn more and we’re here to help. Content is the best way to do that because, I think LinkedIn originally had this statistic, 80% of the buyer journey happens before they even talk to sales.

If you want to hear the full podcast, we’ve posted it above, and you can read a full transcript of this talk on Convince & Convert, where it was originally posted!

The post Content Pros: How Concord is Turning Heads with Content appeared first on Vidyard.

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Vidyard Extends Leadership in Powering the Video-Enabled Business

Boston University, Box, DTS, Graydon Holding NV, Mimecast, New Scientist, RBI, Silk Road, Software AG, Talentsoft, Tungsten Network, Wandera and others join Vidyard’s growing roster of top global brands embracing video to transform marketing, sales and customer service.

KITCHENER, Ontario – Oct 16, 2017 – Vidyard, the new generation video platform, continues its impressive growth after hitting multiple milestones, including the launch of Vidyard GoVideo and its growing partner ecosystem, significant growth in enterprise customers across North America and Europe, and an expansion of its team, office locations and industry recognitions.

Video has emerged as a strategic communications tool for modern business, yet most organizations lack the tools and processes required to bring the power of video to their various business units in a way that is simple, integrated and aligned with business goals. Vidyard helps move customers from basic video hosting to using video as an integrated part of marketing, sales, support, and internal communications programs with the ability to measure impact and optimize results. With Vidyard, customers can use video in new ways to generate more demand, accelerate sales, improve customer experience and enhance employee productivity – all in a simple-to-use, powerful video platform experience.

“In today’s video-first world, video platforms are changing the way that brands connect with their customers and the way that employees engage with each other. Enabling technologies helps businesses create, share, optimize and measure both external and internal video content,” says Michael Litt, co-founder and CEO of Vidyard. “At Vidyard, we’re helping businesses generate more value from their existing video content and develop new strategies for using video to create better outcomes within virtually every business unit.”

Vidyard GoVideo and its Partner Ecosystem

In September, Vidyard announced the rebranding of its ViewedIt video messaging app to reflect its bold new vision to help every business professional, and every business app, go video. Now called Vidyard GoVideo, the tool is helping 130,000+ users across more than 100 countries record, share and track personal video messages from within Google Chrome and Gmail. With its new Vidyard GoVideo partner ecosystem, Vidyard is now powering video messaging experiences within a broad range of customer experience apps including Bolstra, Drift, Engagio, Gainsight, Influitive, Madison Logic, SalesLoft, Uberflip and WorkRamp. Additional integrations are planned and will be released in the coming months.

Customer Growth and Adoption

Use of video in the enterprise is on the rise, and Vidyard is helping to fuel this market trend. Vidyard has experienced growth in its enterprise customer base with utilization across marketing, sales, customer support and secure communications programs. Customers have also discovered the power of Vidyard GoVideo to help sales professionals, executives, and customer support teams easily record and share personalized videos as part of their regular communications. Vidyard has also seen rapid adoption of its Personalized Video solution to power innovative marketing campaigns for brands such as Boston University, Humongous Media, Lenovo, Media One Creative and Pennwell.

Vidyard has seen significant growth of enterprise customers turning to video to support their marketing, sales and communications strategies across Europe. Their growing customer base includes Graydon Holding NV, Mimecast, New Scientist, Punch!, RBI, Software AG, Talentsoft, Tungsten Network and Wandera, among others.

“To create that ‘WOW!’ factor with our clients, we wanted to add creative and engaging video content to our outbound communications. Vidyard was instrumental in helping us adopt the right technology, as well as the latest best practices, to help us leverage video in new ways that drive real, measurable results,” says Kevin Theunissen, email and marketing automation specialist at Graydon Holding NV. “Now everyone is excited to leverage the platform in new and creative ways to boost audience engagement and generate more business.”

Additional Highlights

Recently, Vidyard also saw dramatic customer adoption, global expansion and has been recognized for a variety of product innovations. Recent highlights include:

• Placed as a leader in the Trust Radius 2017 Top Rated Enterprise Video Platforms
• Recognized by Forrester Research as one of the Top Emerging Technologies for B2B Marketers
• Launched Chalk Talks, a comprehensive video series that educates modern businesses on ways to easily implement effective sales and marketing video strategies.
• The Vidyard Partner Program continues global growth with the addition of key agency partners in APAC and EMEA
• Surpassed more than 2,100 registrants for its Fast Forward Video Marketing and Sales Virtual Event, which included headline speakers Vala Afshar, Jay Baer, Linda West and others. The next Fast Forward event is scheduled for Nov 29-30. Registration begins Oct 16.
• Surpassed 200 employees following the opening of new offices in Vancouver and Boston. The company continues to hire multiple positions across all locations.

Vidyard continues to see strong demand across a wide range of industries and company sizes. While many customers have joined from the technology sector, there has been strong growth in industries including financial services, insurance, education, transportation, government and manufacturing. Today, global leaders including Microsoft, McKesson, Lenovo, Citibank, Dynatrace, MongoDB and Sharp have selected Vidyard to power their video engagement strategies.  

 

More Information:

• Vidyard Careers http://ift.tt/2ak6yU3
• Vidyard Press Kit: http://ift.tt/2mANo5Z
• Vidyard GoVideo: http://ift.tt/2wR3v52

 

About Vidyard

Vidyard is the video platform for business that helps organizations drive more revenue through the use of online video. Going beyond video hosting and management, Vidyard helps businesses drive greater engagement in their video content, track the viewing activities of each individual viewer, and turn those views into action. Global leaders such as Honeywell, McKesson, Lenovo, LinkedIn, Citibank, MongoDB and Sharp rely on Vidyard to power their video content strategies and turn viewers into customers.

Media Contact:

Sandy Pell, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Vidyard

press@vidyard.com

The post Vidyard Extends Leadership in Powering the Video-Enabled Business appeared first on Vidyard.

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The Vidyard Community is Coming to Cities Across North America!

Dust off your webcam and get ready to put video back into focus!

The Vidyard community is making the rounds to help you win more with videos! Are you interested in getting together with your peers to learn and share tips, tactics, and experiences using Vidyard? Read on!

Video has been proven to boost sales response rates, drive SEO performance, hit registration targets, close more deals – the list just goes on. But what types of videos have the greatest impact on marketing and sales? How do you scale video production? When should you use personalized video? Wait, what’s personalized video?

This Fall, Vidyard is kicking off it’s most exciting community initiative to bring those who are in interested in learning and sharing tips, tactics, and experiences using Vidyard together through the “Video in Focus” meetups. Regardless if you are a current Vidyard customer, partner, or just an interested individual, there’s something for everybody.

Andrei Vexler from Ceridian, Jason Gao from Post Beyond, and Steve Dinner from League sat on the panel of our first meetup in Toronto and shared golden nuggets of wisdom and experiences. There was no shortage of questions asked and it was clear that video was on everyone’s minds. An exclusive sneak preview of the Vidyard product roadmap was shared afterwards, followed with networking over delicious appetizers and a tour of our partner and venue host, Media One Creative.

We broke bread, literally, at the VIP Breakfast we hosted during INBOUND 2017. We had customers visiting from UK, partners from Japan, and industry leaders like Jen Spencer in attendance, enjoying breakfast and networking before heading off to the conference. Vidyard’s VP Marketing, Tyler Lessard, also hosted a roundtable discussion with 22 attendees and a live Chalk Talk.

Each meetup is unique and we invite you to take part in our next meetups! Video enables us to communicate more easily but nothing beats in-person conversations.

Here’s what one of our attendees, Meaghan Halloran, said about the Toronto event:

“As someone who is relatively new to video marketing, Vidyard’s community meetup was really helpful. It was great to hear from other marketers and salespeople who are experimenting with different tactics in their video strategy and to hear from the speakers who had diverse backgrounds. Can’t wait for the next one!”

Where are we off to next?

We are heading to Seattle, Austin, and Atlanta next. Check out our Eventbrite page for all upcoming events and we’re also taking applications for meetup organizers! Apply now and be the video champion of your city.

Can’t join any meetups in person? Don’t worry, we’ve got you! Join us on the Vidyard Community on Slack to see what your peers are doing with video, pick up some new tricks, and be the first to get Vidyard product updates.

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How to Create a Blog Sales Funnel

Are you blogging as a business?

Are you making sure that you are creating processes that actually build your business over time?

In this episode, I share a step by step process for creating your blog sales funnel.

Intro

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Building a sales funnel is a crucial part of building an online business.

A sales funnel is the visual representation of the customer journey, depicting the sales process from awareness to action.

Those are two essential elements of a sales funnel:

• Awareness: If you are growing a blog, you are creating content to make people aware of your brand and what you have to offer.
• Action: In the case of building a sales funnel, the action you are trying to get is the sale.

But here’s the problem…

When it comes to blogging, most content creators don’t create their content with the end in mind.

What ends up happening is we create content as it pops into our minds. By doing so, sales funnels never make it to the forefront of our minds.

Today, we will fix that.

Here are six steps you can take to create your blog sales funnel.

Step 1: Start with the action

Determine what your audience wants

Answer the following question – What do you want your audience to buy?

This can be a product/service that you offer or one that you promote as an affiliate. By understanding where you want people to end up, you’re going to be better able to get them there.

In understanding what you want them to buy, here are some questions you should answer:

Who is it for? What is his/her goals? What struggles will he or she encounter?

What problem does it solve?

Getting clear on these questions will help you in step 2.

Step 2: Create the right kind of content (awareness)

Now that you know who you’re trying to attract, it’s time to create the kind of content that will attract him/her.

Ask yourself what kind of content he/she is looking for. Keep the goals and struggles in mind as you answer this question.

Create the right kind of content

Then, go out and create that kind of content. You can create articles, videos or podcast episodes.

EVERY piece of content is an opportunity to expose your audience to what you have to offer.

Here’s the key: EACH piece of content should offer significant value independent of that product/service.

Do the best you can to optimize each piece of content for the platform you’re posting it on and you will increase your chances of getting your content to more people.

Step 3: Create a free resource

Determine what products / services you can create / offer for your audience.

What can you create that can help him/her accomplish his/her goals or overcome a specific struggle.

Create that as a free resource so that you can entice your audience to get on your email list.

Some examples of what I’ve created are my Content Calendar and YouTube Growth Tracking spreadsheets.

Step 4: Include a call-to-action in all of your content

That next logical step is opting in to get your free resource.

This is where the rubber meets the road. Yes, you are creating the right kind of content to attract your audience.

However, there needs to be a next logical step from that content to getting to a deeper part of your funnel.

That next logical step is opting in to get your free resource.

Your job is to make it very clear that you have a free resource available. In other words, include a call-to-action.

In order to get access to that free resource, they need to get on your email list.

Give them the opportunity to do just that.

Step 5: Create a goal-directed autoresponder sequence

Create a Goal-directed autoresponder sequence

The goal of this sequence is to get some of the people who subscribe to purchase your product/service.

So the content of the autoresponder sequence will be very important.

It’s important for you to provide value and share resources that will be helpful to your subscribers.

But it’s also important for you to make the pitch. Let them know about the product/service you are promoting and how it can help them on the journey.

One tool I’m going to be experimenting with is called Thrive Ultimatum from Thrive Themes.

It gives you the ability to run time-sensitive offers depending on when someone opts into your email list.

Step 6: Wash, Rinse and Repeat

Wash, Rinse and Repeat

Now that you’ve built out one funnel, it’s time to do the same thing again.

This can be for another product that’s at a similar price point, or (ideally) it would be something more expensive.

The principles are exactly the same.

Let’s bring this home

If you’re building a business, you have to build a system for generating sales. A sales funnel is a great way to do this.

Now that you’re equipped to build a funnel, get to work.

Resources Mentioned:

• Examples of free resources I created:
  • Content Calendar
  • YouTube Growth Tracking
• Thrive Themes – where I get the Thrive Ultimatum auto-responder tool 

Infographic

How to Create a Blog Sales Funnel

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